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Would be most interested in any intel on how this is handled at Latham but also curious how this works at other firms. My group has a staffing partner who assigns work and generally knows how busy people are (more or less) but wondering whether other partners can see associate hours / get e.g. monthly reports / can look it up if they want to but usually don't bother etc. My impression is that partners are generally pretty checked out and don't see much of what's going on below the senior associate level so wondering if they really think the mid level who loudly complains / brags about his 2200 hours is busy while not noticing the other mid level at 2500 hours who doesn't complain ... Fyi, Latham has a committee that determines bonuses and only very few partners are on that committee so most partners aren't involved in bonus decisions and wouldn't need to look up hours for that reason.

Yes, they can look up everyone’s hours. Whether they actually do is another question and will vary partner to partner.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 13, 2021 10:25 pm

Yes, they can look up everyone’s hours. Whether they actually do is another question and will vary partner to partner.

This

Can't speak for Latham, but at both of the biglaw firms I worked for, the partners could easily check associate hours. Hell, at one of the firms, any associate could see anyone else's hours just by typing in their name in the tracking system.

At both firms I worked at, anyone could see anyone else’s hours (partners included).

At my firm, partners do get a weekly list of associate hours (by practice group), but given how uneven workload distribution is, I don’t think they look at them.

Anonymous User wrote: ↑

Wed Jan 13, 2021 10:06 pm

Would be most interested in any intel on how this is handled at Latham but also curious how this works at other firms. My group has a staffing partner who assigns work and generally knows how busy people are (more or less) but wondering whether other partners can see associate hours / get e.g. monthly reports / can look it up if they want to but usually don't bother etc. My impression is that partners are generally pretty checked out and don't see much of what's going on below the senior associate level so wondering if they really think the mid level who loudly complains / brags about his 2200 hours is busy while not noticing the other mid level at 2500 hours who doesn't complain ... Fyi, Latham has a committee that determines bonuses and only very few partners are on that committee so most partners aren't involved in bonus decisions and wouldn't need to look up hours for that reason.

I am a partner (not at Latham) who voluntarily reviews hours for my group each month, partly for the reason you mention: to avoid misconceptions of how busy people are and to calibrate what it means when I've heard from a particular person that they feel overloaded or slow. I also like to keep an eye on my mentees' hours to make sure they aren't getting overloaded or underutilized. All partners at my firm have the ability to do this, but my impression is that almost no one does, apart from practice group leaders and assignment coordinators.

Regarding bonus decisions: our firm also has a relatively small number of partners responsible for making those decisions, but all partners who have worked with an associate during the review period have input into the associate performance rating that informs bonus determinations. While providing that input, partners are shown an automated form that reflects the associate's hours billed YTD. Hope that helps.